


The Hardest Mission

by respoftw



Series: The Adventures of Ace Dameron [19]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 07:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6275623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the hardest mission you can face is being left behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hardest Mission

**Author's Note:**

> Still not the wedding proposal fic, that one is struggling to play ball with me. (Sorry)

Waiting for his Papa to get back home was much easier now that Ace had a Daddy.

His Aunties and Uncles had done their best before his Daddy came along but Ace had always felt a little like a burden, being passed from pillar to post, each of them carving an hour or two out of their day to play soldiers or take him to the mess hall or read him a story before bed, never getting it quite right, never using the right voices, never finding the right balance between playmate and guardian.

He never complained though.

Ace doesn't remember a time when he didn't know that his Papa's job was _Important_. It was important enough that Papa had to leave for weeks at a time sometimes, and even though Ace missed him terribly each time he left, he had the knowledge that his Papa was out there making things better to cling on to.

His Papa sometimes looked so tired when he came home, like he hadn't slept since Ace had hugged him goodbye. Sometimes he was even hurt, holding himself stiffly, his skin damp where he had washed off the dried blood, trying to hide it from Ace but Ace could always tell.

No matter what, when he landed back on safe ground his Papa always came to see him first. It didn't matter if the General herself was waiting on his report, his Papa made sure that Ace was his first stop. Those hugs were always Ace's favourites, it didn't matter how tired his Papa was, how dirty or smelly or hurt, it didn't matter what time it was, if Ace was asleep or in class or in the bath, each and every time he came back he would pull Ace close and bury his face in Ace's curls and pepper his face with kisses until Ace was giggling and squirming with glee.

It didn't matter to Ace how hard it was waiting in his Papa to return, those moments when he did always made it worthwhile.

Ace wasn't a baby, he knew that sometimes people didn't come back from missions. He knows that's what happened with his Mama even if the memory of it gets fuzzier with each passing cycle. He sometimes lay awake at night and worried about that happening to his Papa until his eyes started to blur and the tears started to fall and his chest started to hurt from keeping the sobs inside but he never really believed it would happen.

For as long as he's known that his Papa's job was Important, he's also known that his Papa is the best pilot in the Resistance. Besides, his Papa had promised that he would always come back and his Papa would never lie to him.

Having Finn as his Daddy makes the horrible waiting part so much more bearable.

His Daddy would be there with Ace every step of the way, from waking up and going for their morning run to reading a story together at night and his Daddy always got the voices right. And when Papa got back, the first thing he would do is sweep both Ace and his Daddy into the biggest, tightest, bestest hug that he could.

He still tried to hide when he was hurt but Daddy was almost as good as Ace was at noticing and much better at getting him to admit it.

Ace was lucky enough to believe that nothing bad could happen to his Papa on a mission for a very long time.

* * *

When Finn started going on regular missions, Ace soon realised that his parents coped with the waiting in very different ways.

Finn had never dwelled on the inherent danger, he would fill his and Ace's days with activities and exercises designed to keep both of their minds off the fact that Poe was flying into danger, doing stars knows what, stars knows where. As he grew older Ace realised that this was an element of Finn's First Order training kicking in, making sure that they were occupied with enough menial tasks to discourage independent thought. It felt strange to be so grateful for something that came from such a dark part of his Dad's past but the calm, easy way his Dad dealt with the waiting was eminently preferable to how his Pops coped.

Poe had known too many people who never came back and, worse, he knew what happened to some of those that never made it back. Sometimes, a fiery explosion in space is the very best you could wish for someone. He had tried to hide his fears from Ace, tried to mimic the care-free routine that Finn had established but Finn had blasted any chance of him succeeding in that by getting recaptured by the First Order on his first time out.

It didn't matter that Finn had returned scratch-free, the damage was done and Ace soon decided that it was going to be his job to look after his Pops when his Dad went away, making sure he ate, slept and keeping him occupied in a way that Finn would find startlingly familiar.

Both of his parents taught Ace, in very different ways, that sometimes the hardest mission a person could face is being left behind.

* * *

 

"Dad," Ace whined, stretching the moniker into three syllables as he struggled to wriggle out from underneath Finn's grip, "you're embarrassing me! Come on, everyone's watching."

"Damn right, everyone's watching," Finn said, smiling as he pulled back and affectionately messed up Ace's hair. "It's your first mission; my baby boy's first mission. We're all so proud of you, peanut."

Ace groaned as he desperately tried to flatten his stubborn locks into lying flat. "Please don't call me that, I'm eighteen now, I'm not your little peanut anymore."

"You will _always_ be my little peanut."

"Pops, make him stop." Ace tuned towards his much less embarrassing parent, pleading with him to help control his Dad and froze. The worry and the sorrow that Ace found on Poe's face was enough to take his breath away.

" _Pops_ ," he breathed brokenly as he pulled his father into a crushing hug, stifling a sob as his Pops squeezed him tightly. He felt so safe in his Pops arms, he felt six years old again, feeling every ounce of love that his father held for him being poured into the hug the same way he used to when Poe came home from his own missions.

"I'll be OK," he whispered. "I was trained by the very best. I was raised by the very best. I promise that I'll come home to you all. You, Dad, Ali and Exra."

Ace smiled as he felt his Dad's strong arms join in the hug. "Yeah, come on Poe. You know that us Dameron men always keep our promises. Besides, Rey will be with them. She won't let anything happen to her soon-to-be husband."

Ace slaps his Dad on his shoulder, hating any reminder of his long forgotten pledge that he would marry the beautiful princess Rey when he was old enough, but the familiar teasing had done its job and he was glad to hear his Pops laugh.

"Don't let Exra hear you say that," Poe said, eyes sparkling with amusement, if still a little watery.

"I hate you both." Ace grumbled, fondly.

"Yeah, well, as long as you come back from this mission and tell us in detail just how much you hate us, I'm fine with that." Poe pulled his son, his eldest, his baby, in for one final hug. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered.

Ace nodded, swallowing desperately around the thickness in his throat as his Commander called for them to board their X-Wings.

He had been on the other side of this goodbye so often, he knew how hard it was to watch someone you love leave but it wasn't until this very moment that he knew just how much courage was needed to leave the ones you loved.

Luckily, Ace had grown up with the two most shining examples of courage he could ever have hoped for.

With one last wave, he picked up his helmet and boarded his 'Wing.

He could do this.

He could do anything.

He was a Dameron.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Look at that! Finally some older Ace! I've been wanting to write that for so long! 
> 
> As ever, if anyone has any ideas for things they'd like to see in this series - please let me know either in the comments or message me on [tumblr](http://buffycuddlespigs.tumblr.com/ask) Or just come and yak to me about anything!
> 
> I'm also accepting non-Ace Dameron Stormpilot prompts if you want to send some my way?


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